El Paso Independent School District interim Superintendent Terri Jordan listens to a speaker during Thursday's board meeting at EPISD headquarters. Jordan later deflected questions from reporters Thursday about the six unnamed co-conspirators who allegedly helped former Superintendent Lorenzo Garcia cheat on student test scores. Garcia pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud Wednesday.

El Paso Independent School District interim Superintendent Terri Jordan on Thursday continued to refuse to answer questions about the six unnamed people who federal officials said conspired with former Superintendent Lorenzo García to cheat on student scores.

On Wednesday, García pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to commit mail fraud.

One charge involved a nearly half-million-dollar contract García steered to a company run by his mistress.

García also admitted to defrauding the Texas Education Agency and the U.S. Department of Education by falsifying state and federal accountability scores at multiple schools to secure federal No Child Left Behind funding and so that he could get a performance bonus.

Six unnamed people, who have not been indicted, conspired with García to alter student scores, according to a federal information document filed on Wednesday.

After a board meeting on Thursday, Jordan, who was García's top aide before his arrest last August, dodged questions from members of the media, saying the district is continuing to work with the FBI and the U.S. Department of Education in their ongoing investigations.

"This has been a difficult time for our district, and we appreciate very much our public's and our community's patience as we continue to work with these authorities in their ongoing investigation," Jordan said before walking away from reporters.

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But, Jordan, at a news conference on April 24, implicated two current employees and a former associate superintendent in the grading scandal at Bowie High School.

A district internal audit showed that some students at Bowie were improperly held in ninth grade or promoted to 11th grade, preventing them from taking the 10th-grade state assessment test used for federal and state accountability measures.

Jordan cited an email she said was sent by former Associate Superintendent Damon Murphy, who is now the superintendent of the Canutillo Independent School District, that ordered school officials to retain students who transferred to the EPISD from another country for a year in the ninth grade regardless of their academic credits.

Murphy has declined to comment on the alleged email.

Also at the news conference, Jordan said that Myrna Gamboa, a director in the Secondary and Priority Schools Division, and Bowie High School Principal Jesus Chavez, who allegedly participated in grade altering, were temporarily reassigned to central office.

Jordan said Chavez admitted to an internal auditor that he willfully violated district policy on admitting students.

"When those six people are identified, then they will be dealt with," said Isela Castañon-Williams, president of the school board, on Thursday. "They will receive disciplinary actions that come with what they have been found of doing wrong, and if it means termination, then, of course, there will be terminations."

Castañon-Williams said the school board had no role or responsibility in the student-grade altering or García's scheme to defraud the district by conspiring with his former lover, Tracy Rose, who owned Infinity Resources of Houston, to steer a no-bid contract to the woman's company.

She did not directly answer questions about the board's responsibility to hold García accountable, despite their assertion he was untruthful with trustees.

A federal document states García and others manipulated test scores from February 2006 to Aug. 1, 2011, a time frame when all current EPISD trustees except Rocio Benedicto were serving.

An internal audit showed that district officials, including García, were aware that a Bowie High counselor had come forward in May 2010 with 77 student transcripts that showed evidence of altered grades to keep students in ninth grade and unexplained promotion of students from ninth to 11th grade.

"(García) did not tell the truth to any of the boards that he participated with," Castañon-Williams said. "At that point in time, there was not enough data to look at and question what he was doing.

"He did not provide the board with the information he should have, which is why he is now facing a prison term."

Hayley Kappes may be reached at hkappes@elpasotimes.com; 546-6168. Follow her on Twitter @hayleykappes.